A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

[IgnorantGuru]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

I want to add the question of whether anyone has looked into what firefox [and possibly others?] does to permissions at startup or other times. The behavior seems strange to me and is somewhat concerning.

I can't say I've looked into the file permissions issue, but one way this may be happening is that firefox is deleting and recreating the file in question. For example, to update a confile file sometimes a program will write data to a temporary file, then when that is successful, will delete the original and rename the temporary file to the original. This could explain how firefox is changing the permissions, including on a file owned by root. (One odd thing about linux file permissions is that a user can delete a root-owned file even when that use can't write to the file - it depends on the user's write permission to the folder containing the file.)

You could try setting the t flag on the folder so that only the owner of a file is allowed to delete a file...

sudo chown root:root ~/.mozilla
sudo chmod +t,ugo+rwx ~/.mozilla

Then firefox shouldn't be able to modify a root-owned file. Same for macromedia folders. As far as it changing the permissions on a user-owned file, it's unusual for a program to do so, but nothing says it can't. It's probably recreating the file so the permissions are set to the default for new files on your system.

[Qqmike]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

BleachBit ?

I just ran into this, looks interesting, has its limitations, of course, but a neat feature:
Check the item you wish to preview, click Preview, and it lists the pathnames of the files it will delete. I put this in Kubuntu 9.10 to test it, previewed KDE and System, and there's a whole lot of files (for privacy and for logs) listed. The newer version also has Konqueror.

http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/bleachbit
http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/features

Also can vacuum /home; "shred" files.

Still looking at this, but thought I'd post this now for anyone who is also researching this topic. The Preview view is quite informative for people making their own custom cleaner, by script or manually.

Sweeper is also available for 9.10 but is quite limited in what it does, as has already been noted by I-G.

[IgnorantGuru]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

BleachBit ?

Thanks for pointing this out! It looks like it's been around for about a year and I hadn't heard of it. It looks like a useful tool and has quite a list of applications it cleans. Some of them, such as any Adobe software (Acrobat), RealPlayer, etc, are privacy nightmares in general, so if you do use them, a cleaner is highly recommended. I recommend avoiding any of that commercial software that you can.

I installed BleachBit on Arch from source, selected the programs I have installed from its list, and ran a preview. Here is my review of what it said it was going to do, FWIW. Also, I didn't actually have it clean, only preview, so I can't comment on its actual performance.

1. It doesn't say what it uses to shred, and doesn't seem to give the user the ability to change or modify the shredding tool. These tools can vary significantly in performance and thoroughness - for example, srm (from secure-delete) is much more effective than shred.

2. It seemed to delete all of ~/.cache, which I'm not sure is a good idea. For example, I know lxpanel from LXDE stores its menu there. So I would use that with caution.

3. These are of concern to me...

Delete /var/tmp/kdecache-*/kpc/kde-icon-cache.updated
Delete /var/tmp/kdecache-*/kpc/kde-icon-cache.data
Delete /var/tmp/kdecache-*/kpc/kde-icon-cache.index

In my experience, deleting these files while KDE is running will cause the desktop to crash or become unstable, requiring a reboot. Now I didn't have full KDE running (or installed) when I ran BleachBit, so perhaps it detected this, but I doubt it. I did have some KDE apps running (which is what created the kpc data). The KDE devs like to pretend their cache invalidation works, but it doesn't. So you have to be careful what /var caches you delete, not only while KDE is running, but even between boots. This is broken behavior... https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=205257 As it's probably not going to be properly repaired for the life of KDE4, use with caution or expect instability and configuration loss from BleachBit's behavior in this area.

4. /home/*/.java/deployment/cache/ Deleting is probably a good idea, and I think I will add it to kscrubber.

5. Don't assume BleachBit is cleaning Firefox thoroughly. As with kscrubber, you should use Firefox's own delete history function and then run the cleaner. BleachBit does seem to delete the Flash cookies, making it the first cleaner besides kscrubber that I've seen do so.

6. My biggest concern with BleachBit is that the only things it seems to be able to do is delete files or vacuum databases. I saw no sign that it was addressing data embedded in config files, for example. For example, it deleted VLC's cache from ~/.cache, but it didn't clean the filedialog-path= and list= history entries in VLC's vlc-qt-interface.conf. Many, many programs include recently used file and folder lists, search queries, and other info in their config files. Obviously these files can't just be deleted as they contain the whole configuration, but they do need to be cleaned. If you open kscrubber in an editor you'll see an extensive list of sed commands that does this cleaning. For example, for kate alone:

# kate
sed -i 's/\(^Recent Files\[\$e\]=\).*/\1/' $userhome/$kde/share/config/katerc
sed -i 's/\(^Replacement Text History=\).*/\1/' $userhome/$kde/share/config/katerc
sed -i 's/\(^Search Pattern History=\).*/\1/' $userhome/$kde/share/config/katerc
sed -i 's/\(^LastSearchFiles=\).*/\1*/' $userhome/$kde/share/config/katerc
sed -i 's/\(^LastSearchItems=\).*/\1/' $userhome/$kde/share/config/katerc
sed -i 's/\(^LastSearchPaths=\).*/\1/' $userhome/$kde/share/config/katerc

Without this level of cleaning, BleachBit is leaving a lot of private activity info behind. At least that's based on what it reported in Preview. It didn't mention any rc files, including katerc, and obviously it didn't say it was just deleting it (which it can't).

7. I didn't see any sign that BleachBit cleaned /var/log or /tmp, both of which can contain private user info.

Overall, I think BleachBit is a useful tool, especially for programs that kscrubber doesn't address. It is incomplete in its cleaning, seeming to ignore config files and what they may contain, and system files outside the /home folder. I didn't see anything that may cause system damage EXCEPT the kpc cache deletion.

If you use BleachBit, I would recommend running kscrubber first as kscrubber will a) probably use a more effective shredding tool (I don't know what BleachBit uses), and b) will clean inside config files, clear /var/log and some of /tmp, and address programs that BleachBit misses entirely (eg k3b). So you could think of the tools as complementary - neither replaces all the functions of the other. BleachBit has a more extensive apps list than kscrubber (although since it doesn't edit config files, don't assume it's removing all recent activity info).

[Qqmike]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

re BleachBit, Thank you for that, IgnorantGuru!

[IgnorantGuru]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

A little more info... I just updated kscrubber to v1.1.1 which adds two things from BleachBit: it deletes Firefox's offline cache, and the java deployment cache. Initially I didn't delete Firefox's offline cache because in some cases users may want it. But I think it's better to delete it by default (as a cache it can always be replaced automatically), and let users who do want the cache retained disable that line in the kscrubber script.

However, one other thing I was going to add from BleachBit caused a loss of the configuration in OpenOffice. BleachBit deletes the following files:

Delete 24KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Common.dat
Delete 12KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Logging.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Events.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.Factories.dat
Delete 68KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.WriterCommands.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.ExtendedColorScheme.dat
Delete 16KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.DataAccess.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Addons.dat
Delete 132KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.GenericCommands.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Substitution.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.ProtocolHandler.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Calc.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Recovery.dat
Delete 20KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Writer.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Histories.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Commands.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.GlobalSettings.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.TabBrowse.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Jobs.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Compatibility.dat
Delete 80KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.TypeDetection.Filter.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.CalcAddIns.dat
Delete 16KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.WriterWindowState.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.TypeDetection.Misc.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.System.dat
Delete 12KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.CalcWindowState.dat
Delete 24KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Setup.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.ucb.Store.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Java.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Linguistic.dat
Delete 8KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Impress.dat
Delete 44KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.CalcCommands.dat
Delete 8KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Paths.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.StartModuleWindowState.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.UserProfile.dat
Delete 8KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.Controller.dat
Delete 108KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Accelerators.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.ucb.Configuration.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Scripting.dat
Delete 48KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.TypeDetection.Types.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Canvas.dat
Delete 8KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Inet.dat
Delete 12KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.TypeDetection.GraphicFilter.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.TypeDetection.dat
Delete 180KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.VCL.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Views.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.WriterWeb.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.GenericCategories.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.OptionsDialog.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.SFX.dat
Delete 8KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.StartModuleCommands.dat
Delete 20KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.ImpressWindowState.dat
Delete 48KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.DrawImpressCommands.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.BasicIDEWindowState.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.UI.BasicIDECommands.dat
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/Histories.xcu
Delete 4KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Histories.dat
Delete 24KB /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/cache/org.openoffice.Office.Common.dat
Delete the usage history ?B /home/*/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/Common.xcu

That causes loss of many settings in OpenOffice options, macro security settings, etc. Thus I do not advise using BleachBit to clean OpenOffice. The only file I think should be deleted is what kscrubber deletes: ~/.openoffice.org/3/user/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/Histories.xcu That said, kscrubber may not remove all activity information from OpenOffice. The config files may need some custom cleaning (editing). I didn't put that much time into OpenOffice. BleachBit is more thorough but be prepared to lose your config. kscrubber's philosophy is remove activity info but not config settings, so it won't simply delete all those files.

Also, I examined VLC's used of ~/.cache/vlc and it doesn't appear to contain activity info, just a plugin cache. As I said above, BleachBit clears the entire ~/.cache folder, which is overkill and may cause problems or slow response in some programs. kscrubber currently does the following for VLC (which BleachBit misses), but it does not clear the cache:

sed -i s'/^\(filedialog-path=\).*/\1/' $userhome/.config/vlc/vlc-qt-interface.conf
sed -i s'/^\(list=\).*/\1/' $userhome/.config/vlc/vlc-qt-interface.conf

If anyone finds data in ~/.cache that should be removed please let me know. kscrubber does clear Arora's cache there.

[Qqmike]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

There is also the bonus package for download, you probably caught that?
Still studying all of this, including kscrubber. Keep getting pulled away from the PC, darn!
BleachBit also has some good stuff under Learn, like the cleaning package stuff.
At the least, this all looks like a good learning tool.
I WAS struck by the rather long lists of things it gets into and deletes; wondering if it is all safe. But then, there's been lots of Ubuntu downloads, so you'd think they'd have it under control by now ... ?
We'll see. Still studying this stuff.

[IgnorantGuru]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

There is also the bonus package for download, you probably caught that?

I saw that but didn't try it - looked like it was for Ubuntu and I didn't try this on my Kubuntu system.

I WAS struck by the rather long lists of things it gets into and deletes; wondering if it is all safe. But then, there's been lots of Ubuntu downloads, so you'd think they'd have it under control by now ... ?

I don't know - maybe see what feedback and bug reports they're getting. I know for certain it would have deleted the OO config if it deleted the files it said, because I tried deleting them myself. And I know from experience the kpc cache is not something to touch while KDE4 is running. But overall it seemed okay. Remember that each module for BleachBit seems to be written by different people. The KDE module seems very incomplete (ignored Kate history, kdeglobals, etc), and the OO module was way too heavy-handed IMO. But that may reflect more on the authors of those XML modules than the maintainer of BleachBit. I also wonder if module authors are allowed to edit files, rather than just delete them. I saw no sign of it, and without that ability you can't clean recent history thoroughly, especially in KDE.

Also, I noted that it tried to delete huge lists of language files from /usr/share, presumably to save disk space (about 200MB). I suppose that's harmless enough as long as you're not running a system with users of other languages, now or in the future. And I suppose I checked some box to make it do so - maybe in the system files section. Only thing I don't understand is how it can delete them unless run as root. Those were the only root-owned files it wanted to delete. So you can include that question in your studies.

[Qqmike]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

The only thing I've run across so far is that if you should get a "permission denied" error, try starting as root. Start - Applications - System Tools - BleachBit as Administrator. Or:
sudo bleachbit

[Guest]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

Very informative stuff, thanks indeed ! Btw, Firefox has an addon called BetterPrivacy which helps deal with flash cookies.

[askrieger]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

BetterPrivacy Looks Good!

I've been manually deleting flash cookies by going to the Adobe site periodically since this subject came up. This has been necessary because the worst of these things keep reappearing. BetterPrivacy looks like a winner. I'll report back here if I have any problems with the addon. BTW how to tell which ones to wipe: If you don't recognize the name of the company that planted the flash cookie, go to their website. It's usually discernible from the cookie.

Later: I just checked who some of these flash cookie droppers were:

s.ytimg.com: some people claim that youtube can take over YOUR webcam and microphone with this flash cookie; personally, I doubt it.

feedjit.com: tracks number of visitors at customers' websites. May get your i.p address, as well.

gigya.com: ditto

clearspring.com: ditto, BUT planted by Launchpad!!!

[Qqmike]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

@askrieger, BetterPrivacy--interesting; and has a nice blurb about the subject (didn't try it yet, I'm using FX 2.0 right now, 8.04.3).

@IgnorantGuru, still looking closely at all this, nice thread you got here. One thing stands out so far: you are correct about how some config files retain tracking/personal information and how important this fact is. Who knows how many places (in the OS) actually hold such data on the user.
Being able to get into a config file and get the personal tracking data out is important, I think. You gave kate; another example is Kaffeine, whose playlists may be empty (except for header info), yet the config file may have a record of user activity. I suspect this kind of thing is all over the place. I don't write scripts, as I've said, but I can see how it would pay to know how to write the sed statements you've got in yours. (From tutorial on your site, however, I DID do my 1st toy script, basically just
#!/bin/bash
# Custom deletions
rm /home/mike/.kde/share/apps/kate/metainfos

but, what the heck, it worked Just noticed, too, this:
-f, --force ignore nonexistent files, never prompt)

Anyway, editing, not deleting the config files is important, so it seems to me, and as you've said.

[IgnorantGuru]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

@Qqmike
Congrats on your first script! I think you'll find writing them becomes irresistible. Also note that you can associate them with keyboard shortcuts (for detailed instructions see the repic script on my site), or schedule them to be run automatically with crontab.

@askrieger

clearspring.com: ditto, BUT planted by Launchpad!!!

Doesn't surprise me. The 'Ubuntu Firefox Modifications' (or whatever its called) that Ubuntu adds to Firefox, and which is impossible to remove without hacking it, is all about redirecting your search queries so that Canonical profits from them. IMO the whole K/Ubuntu scene is becoming very Windows-like (read corporate surveillance society), and the new KDE is designed to increase the integration with Windows. They are even labeling KDE a 'brand' and advertising how they want the apps to work in Windows. While this may sound good, it invariably leads to a blurring of Linux and Windows. Not a good sign. I find many highly questionable things going on in Ubuntu and KDE these days. They're not what they were, and are gradually becoming something else - less and less attuned to the Linux philosophy IMO.

[Qqmike]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

Well, no surprise, I suppose, after digging into this subject ...
Yep, Konqueror is another example where personal info is kept under config (in addition to under apps):

/home/mike/.kde/share/config/konquerorrc
For example, at least these three places in konquerorrc (there may be more than would appear if I were to run Konqueror doing tests):

[KFileDialog Settings]
Automatic Preview=true
Autoplay sounds=true
Recent Files[$e]=$HOME/Desktop/DSCN0579-1.JPG

[SearchBar]
History list=hardwareguys.com
SuggestionEnabled=true

[kuick-move]
Paths[$e]=$HOME/Desktop/NEW_Priv101_Notes,$HOME/Desktop,$HOME/studybook/aa,$HOME/Pictures/tree.jpg

(This is where your sed-ing comes in handy.)


Yeah, I'm not crazy about this. Not an expert, but having poked around KDE 3.x a lot, and now messing with KDE4, no question there seems to be a difference wrt the issues we are discussing here. Problem is that most users don't have a clue. And by the time many users do have a clue, it'll be too late; the cleanup business will be a booming industry, the way Windows has gone. Again, my reference point for judging how bad Windows is would be CCleaner (one of many, but a big and reputable one). I used to think that CCleaner really drilled deep through multitudes of crap. But if you look at the output of BleachBit, it's the same damned thing. And as you I-G have pointed out, BleachBit is not even editing the naughty lines from the ~/.kde/share/config files (which they SHOULD be doing!).


Dummy this down? Ignorance IS bliss!?




Dumb question ... as one (extreme) measure, if nothing else, any harm done by manually editing the file konquerorrc to delete those entries? and if no harm done, how much can be deleted? For example:

[KFileDialog Settings]
Automatic Preview=true
Autoplay sounds=true
Recent Files[$e]=$HOME/Desktop/DSCN0579-1.JPG

Just delete the naughty line and leave the rest:

[KFileDialog Settings]
Automatic Preview=true
Autoplay sounds=true

?

[GreyGeek]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

....
Not a good sign. I find many highly questionable things going on in Ubuntu and KDE these days. They're not what they were, and are gradually becoming something else - less and less attuned to the Linux philosophy IMO.

As far as Ubuntu or Kubuntu "going Windows" I could always switch to another distro. But when KDE itself "goes Windows" forking becomes the only solution. As much as I and others detest the importation of Microsoft's API into the GNOME desktop, and probably supplanting GTK's GPL API's which are not encumbered by being the tail on Microsoft corporate patents, it appears that the Microsoft/Novell plan to hijack Linux is becoming more successful than I ever thought it could be.

I think that part of the problem is that the rapid increase in popularity of Linux in recent years has created a flood of immigrants from Microsoft's plantation who never knew and do not appreciate the Four Freedoms, and so they do not appreciate the threat that MONO and MoonLight present to the GNOME/Linux ecosystem.

One can only guess what Mark Shuttlesworth's leaving the Canonical corporate scene may mean for Ubuntu. It's beginning to appear that most of the people in charge of Ubuntu are more favorable to the .NET/SIlverLight/Windows paradigm than to the FOSS/Linux/GPL paradigm. Even de Icaza is so sure of MONO's pending victory over the native API's on the GNOME desktop that he has redirected his work to helping Microsoft to compete against Apple by helping build CodePlex and by using MONO to write iPod applets to compete against applets that use Apple's native API's.

While MONO apologists claim that MONO can add features that .NET doesn't have, and thus isn't 'dependent' on .NET, the EMCA 334 &335 standard has "conformance" rules and Microsoft is in charge of evaluating if a tool written to those standards is compliant or not. Anytime they want they can decide to declare an instantiation of those rules non-conforming and thus outside the standard, opening up technical and legal ramifications.

Then, Microsoft can always take the option that they took with MoonLight applets written for Apple's iPod: add the COM object to SilverLight 4. COM is patented and it cannot be legally added to MoonLight, so it's now not possible to add features to MoonLight applets which can be added to SilverLight applets, thus blocking MoonLight on Apple's platform.

[IgnorantGuru]

Re: A new privacy and log scrubber for KDE4, Firefox, & Flash

As far as Ubuntu or Kubuntu "going Windows" I could always switch to another distro. But when KDE itself "goes Windows" forking becomes the only solution.

I first moved from Windows to SUSE. But it had a very corporate feel to it, and when they struck that deal with Microsoft, that was the last straw for me, and I switched to Ubuntu. Not to rant, but KDE4 makes me very uncomfortable - I feel removed from control and sitting behind a slow, bloated GUI. It is SO Windows to me. In fact the whole Qt thing seems to be, and the truth is many of the KDE devs develop Windows stuff as their day job. They aren't linux purists by any stretch of the imagination. Or so I've heard.

After trying really hard to like KDE4 and failing, and after some of the things Ubuntu has done recently which tell me their philosophy is not mine, I moved to Arch. And like you say, just going to KDE in Arch wouldn't have solved the problem, so I just setup Openbox as a simple window manager. I feel so much better! And I recently installed LXDE on my netbook - that's a very nice light desktop. Reminds me of KDE3 in some ways. I still haven't kicked all the KDE apps, so I've still got a lot of the KDE core installed, but at least I'm free of Plasma, PulseAudio (a security nightmare just to have it running on your system), and other things KDE has become. The way I see it, I'm on a different foundation now so as they become more Windows, I can migrate elsewhere.

I think that part of the problem is that the rapid increase in popularity of Linux in recent years has created a flood of immigrants from Microsoft's plantation who never knew and do not appreciate the Four Freedoms, and so they do not appreciate the threat that MONO and MoonLight present to the GNOME/Linux ecosystem.

Agreed. Running Linux is no longer enough to be free of Microsoft and its ilk. You need to select carefully what you install and use. It's so easy to get drawn into that garbage. Like the way they make Adobe Flash so prevalent instead of an open format, so now if you want to see half the web you need to run it. It's insidious.

I can't say I like the development tools for Linux either, and especially the cross-platform ones. I can't believe they haven't come up with something like VB or VisualStudio - a nice IDE and GUI designer that makes creating capable apps a breeze. I've been toying with a little project lately and have been disappointed as I've shopped for a tool to develop it. I like what I've seen of Python, but using the Qt designer with it is inconvenient, and I don't like Qt's way of doing things anyway. I can't believe after all this time that the linux folks haven't come up with some nice development tools to make their job easier. I think that's why software is often so buggy and ill-designed. The tools don't even make me want to program. Maybe I just haven't found the right one - it's a jungle.

All the Mono and Silverlight stuff has one objective - corporate control of personal computers, and especially development. They want us all running workstations connected to Microsoft/Google Central. But there are some people working on cool stuff (like Openbox, LXDE, etc). You just have to go looking for it and do a little work yourself. Home improvement.

I feel like an old man grumbling about how they just don't build things good anymore. But I just don't relate to most of what people do with computers these days. Nor do I relate to the way programmers develop routinely buggy, broken, bloated software. I know it doesn't have to be that way. Computers are fast, precise, reliable tools at their core.

I guess we just need to be informed and conscientious buyers, and use the good stuff that's out there and forget the rest. It's hard when they slowly change something like Ubuntu. I've heard that a frog will jump out of hot water, but if you gradually bring the water to a boil, it won't notice the change and will stay there and die. I try to keep that in mind.